Plectorhinchus
| Plectorhinchus Temporal range: Miocene to Present[1] | |
|---|---|
 | |
| harlequin sweetlips, Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Perciformes |
| Family: | Haemulidae |
| Genus: | Plectorhinchus Lacépède, 1801 |
| Type species | |
| Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides Lacépède, 1801 | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Plectorhinchus is a genus of grunts, the sweetlips, found in fresh, brackish, and salt waters.
Description and characteristics
These fish have big, fleshy lips and tend to live on coral reefs in the Indo-Pacific in small groups or pairs. They will often associate with other fishes of similar species; several species of sweetlips sometimes swim together. They are usually seen in clusters in nooks and crannies or under overhangs. At nightfall, they venture from their shelters to seek out their bottom-dwelling invertebrate prey, such as bristleworms, shrimps, and small crabs.
Sweetlips' colouring and patterning changes throughout their lives. For example, the adult ribboned sweetlips (P. polytaenia) develops more stripes with age. Juvenile sweetlips generally look quite different from the adults, and often live solitary lives on shallower reef sections. Juveniles may be banded or spotted and are usually a completely different colour from the adults of their species. Small juveniles have an undulating swimming pattern, possibly mimicking poisonous flatworms as a means of predator avoidance.[2][3]
Species
The 28 currently recognized species in this genus are:[4]
- Plectorhinchus albovittatus (Rüppell, 1838) (two-striped sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus ceylonensis (J. L. B. Smith, 1956) (Sri Lanka sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides Lacépède, 1801 (harlequin sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus chrysotaenia (Bleeker, 1855) (yellow-striped sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus chubbi (Regan, 1919) (dusky rubberlip)
- Plectorhinchus cinctus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1843) (crescent sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus diagrammus (Linnaeus, 1758) (striped sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus faetela (Forsskål, 1775)
- Plectorhinchus flavomaculatus (G. Cuvier, 1830) (lemonfish)
- Plectorhinchus gaterinus (Forsskål, 1775) (blackspotted rubberlip)
- Plectorhinchus gibbosus (Lacépède, 1802) (harry hotlips)
- Plectorhinchus lessonii (G. Cuvier, 1830) (Lesson's thicklip)
- Plectorhinchus lineatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (yellowbanded sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus macrolepis (Boulenger, 1899) (biglip grunt)
- Plectorhinchus macrospilus Satapoomin & J. E. Randall, 2000 (largespot sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus mediterraneus (Guichenot, 1850) (rubberlip grunt)
- Plectorhinchus multivittatus (W. J. Macleay, 1878) (many-lined sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus obscurus (Günther, 1872) (giant sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus paulayi Steindachner, 1895 (zebra sweetlip)
- Plectorhinchus pictus (Tortonese, 1936) (trout sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus picus (G. Cuvier, 1828) (painted sweetlip)
- Plectorhinchus plagiodesmus Fowler, 1935 (barred rubberlip)
- Plectorhinchus playfairi (Pellegrin, 1914) (whitebarred rubberlip)
- Plectorhinchus polytaenia (Bleeker, 1853) (ribboned sweetlips)
- Plectorhinchus schotaf (Forsskål, 1775) (minstrel sweetlip)
- Plectorhinchus sordidus (Klunzinger, 1870) (sordid rubberlip)
- Plectorhinchus umbrinus (Klunzinger, 1870)
- Plectorhinchus vittatus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Indian Ocean oriental sweetlips)
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Plectorhinchus chaetodonoides
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Plectorhinchus polytaenia
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Plectorhinchus vittatus
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Juveniles are often spotted and colorful.
References
- ↑ Sepkoski, Jack (2002). "A compendium of fossil marine animal genera". Bulletins of American Paleontology 364: 560. Retrieved 2008-01-08.
- ↑ Debelius, H. Asia Pacific Reef Guide. 2001. ISBN 3-925919-56-2
- ↑ Debelius, H. Indian Ocean Reef Guide. 2001. ISBN 978-3-931702-67-0
- ↑ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2014). Species of Plectorhinchus in FishBase. December 2014 version.